Aleppo Things to Do Tips by TheWanderingCamel

With everything you could ever think of for sale, the souks of Aleppo are endlessly fascinating. Stone-vaulted, narrow alleyways lead you deeper and deeper into a world so far removed from the muzak and bright lights of modern shopping you can lose yourself for hours. Look out for the section where everything you could need to construct a Bedouin tent can be found - bolts of black goathair tentcloth, great coils of black and white woven webbing and thick rope - and the little yellow pelts of foxes - but no photos here please. Agonize over which pattern to choose from the huge array of the fine black and red Bedouin scarves - they make great sarongs - or choose a bright silk one from the rainbow of colours available. Drink flower tea with an Armenian and his cousin as you choose a necklace in the Gold Souk. Smell the spices and admire the intricate patterns made with them in glass cases. Taste the olives and nuts you are offered as you pass through. Watch out for donkeys laden with huge paniers - or old men. Feel a bit queazy as you pass through the meat souk. Buy some good olive oil soap - that rough mud-coloured exterior covers a silky-smooth green interior that lathers beautifully. And when your feet feel as though they are going to drop off, make your way to one of the cafes in the street outside the main entrance (if you can find your way back) for a huge glass of fresh fruit juice before you dive back in again.

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Address: Across the road from the Citadel and to the right

Don't be put off by the huge basalt figures with their strange staring eyes guarding the entrance to the National Museum in Aleppo. Once inside you will find much of interest, most from the northern part of Syria including many Bronze and Iron Age artifacts from Mari, Tell Brak, Ugarit and other ancient sites - strangely endearing statues of men and women with kohl-rimmed eyes, beautiful ivory carvings and a handsome bronze lion. The Classical and Byzantine section includes glass, pottery, coins and mosaics. A walk through the garden will reveal some lovely statuary and stelae. You may well find you have the place virtually to yourself , as we did.
The museum is open from 9-1 and 4-6, and is closed on Tuesday

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Address: Baron Street
Directions: In the park, diagonally across from the Amir Palace Hotel.

No-one visiting Aleppo could miss the Citadel. There it sits, atop its great mound where, in places, the grassy accretion of centuries is slowly being peeled away to reveal the stone-faced glacis beneath. Massive, impregnible - that you expect. What is more surprising is how elegant and restrained it is - the arches of the bridge across the moat, the monumental square entrances, the banded black and white stonework around the windows.
Once inside things become something of a jumble, the twists and turns of the defensive entry passage opening out at the top to a mix of reconstucted buildings and piles of apparent rubble. The view over the city is magnificent however.

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Closed for many years for restoration, the Omayyed mosque is now open to visitors once again. The relaid black, gold and cream marble of the courtyard spreads out in an intricate maze, the ablutions fountain is scrubbed and clean, the chandeliers sparkle and the dome above the prayer hall shows clear in intricate detail. Even the obligatory robes for women visitors are clean and new - and pale blue with pointy hoods - groups of tourists look like hunch-backed gnomes with their backpacks beneath the gown.

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The busy squares, church plazas and main shopping streets in the Christian (Jdaide) quarter are a great contrast to the narrow stone-lined lanes that connect them. Here all is hushed and very private but behind the high walls and solid doors are beautiful old houses and courtyards, some of which are now hotels and restaurants that you can visit, even if you are not staying or eating there. In Sissi Street you'll find the Beit Wakil Hotel, the most authentically restored of all of these. Others are schools, and if you knock and ask politely it may be possible to have a peek inside. We were invited in to the school across the way from the Beit Wakil to hear the Patriarch of the Armenian Church address the assembled students and their parents in the lovely tree-shaded courtyard there. Something similar may come your way.

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There is a surprising variety of churches and cathedrals in Aleppo's Christian Quarter - Armenian Catholic, Greek Catholic, Syrian Catholic, Latin Catholic; Maronites; Syrian Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox; Chaldeans and even a small Protestant presence. Most are crowded together in the Jdaide Quarter, the legacy of Syria's early Christian heritage, Ottoman tolerance and the refuge given to the survivors of the Turkish massacres of the Armenians in the first quarter of the 20th century.

Nowadays Syria is one of the few Middle Eastern countries where Christian may not only practice their religion freely , but may build new churches and educate their children in church schools.

A walk through the Jdaide on a Sunday morning, when the church bells are ringing and everyone is off to church, is to think yorself in another world.

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Directions: The Maronite and Greek Catholic churches are near each other on Saahat Farat.
The 40 Martyrs Armenian Church is on Harat al-Yasmin

If you visit only one Dead City while you are in Aleppo, this must be it. The magnificent ruin of the church and monastery complex at St Simeon (Qa'alat Sema'an) is, without any doubt, the loveliest place in all Northern Syria.
The great cross formed by four churches touching around the central courtyard where the Stylite's pillar stood is a glorious combination of stone and space.

The pillar may be reduced to a boulder now but as you look at it and, in your mind, see it standing 25m high, Simeon in his iron basket at the top, the crowds below waiting for the saint to speak, you are carried back to a world of faith and majesty that is lost forever.

Bring plenty of film with you, it's a photographer's delight - every turn of the head another graceful curve or angle to catch the eye, but do take time to find a quiet corner where you can sit and focus on the beauty and peace of this magical, majestic place.

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Directions: About 45km north of Aleppo. A microbus willl get you as far as Daret Azze, then you'll need a taxi or some sort of lift.
An organized tour from Aleppo or a car and driver are other options.

The Old City is a bewildering maze of narrow, twisting lanes and alleys - dusty, crumbling but generally reasonably clean. Apart from the obvious places like the souq, the Citadel, the hammams, madrassa and mosques, etc, there is much to interest the inquisitive aimless wanderer. Wonderful studded and carved doors leading where? Massive door knockers and dainty Hands of Fatima, carved lintels, latticed balconies, metal workshops with glowing braziers in their depths, minarets of every shape and height, a tiny cemetery on a little hill, a small square filled with fruit and vegetable barrows, one of the gates inremnant of the city walls. Al this and much more, enough to keep you exploring as long as your feet hold out. A taxi back to your hotel will only cost you a dollar or so.

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Approaching the outskirts of Aleppo, particularly from the north-west, you cannot help but notice the enormous amount of new building going on. There's block after block of new apartments, some looking very extravagant with acres of elaborate stone and marble. New mosques sprout minarets everywhere - some are elegantly restrained while others look like something out of a Disney fantasy. New roads lead off in all directions.

This explosion of building is not surprising when you know that in just four years from 1992 to 1996 the population of Aleppo doubled, but why and how so much of it appears to be so opulent is more of a mystery.
What is a certainty however, is that with more than 50% of the population under the age of 19, the building boom is going to last for some time yet.

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